Guidance blog, with insight from Champions 12.3

If food loss and waste were a country, it would be second in the world for driving GHG emissions – behind only China. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goal target of halving food loss and waste (SDG 12.3) would therefore have a significant climate impact, reducing total greenhouse gas emissions by up to 5%, per IPCC estimates. To seize on this narrowing window of opportunity, everyone must identify at least one “hotspot” – whether in their business, supply chain, community or home – and do something about it.

Just six years remain to achieve SDG Target 12.3, which calls for halving food loss and waste worldwide by 2030. At this juncture, SDG 12.3 is fast becoming out of reach given the imbalance between global action and the scale of the challenge.

The world is at a fork in the road. Unless a slew of companies and countries prioritize food loss and waste reduction, SDG 12.3 will be unachievable. As a result, we will have missed one of the best opportunities to build a resilient food system for generations.

Key barriers include:
  • Managerial issues (e.g., poor farming and forecasting practices)
  • Technological challenges (e.g., inadequate equipment)
  • Structural underinvestment
  • Lack of policy focus
  • These are aggravated by social norms, which have not prioritised reducing food loss and waste

If governments and the private sector act immediately, we may still reduce food loss and waste to a level that can bring significant benefits for people, climate and the economy.

Achieving SDG 12.3 would:
  • Reduce total global GHG emissions by up to 5%, per IPCC estimates.
  • Promote greater food security around the globe, and
  • Increase farmers’ incomes and financial stability.

Everyone must identify at least one hotspot where they can make a difference – whether in their business, supply chain or community – and do something about it.

It’s hard to create change when you’re seemingly alone in fighting for a cause. That’s why everyone must take the initial step of identifying an area where they can have an impact, and do what they can to reduce food loss and waste in that hotspot. Together, many small actions will add up to a big impact.

We urge governments and the private sector to use the Target-Measure-Act approach immediately to reduce food loss and waste:

Target:
  • Countries need to recognise SDG 12.3 as their food loss and waste reduction target, and that target needs to be represented throughout national climate strategies and communications and translated into meaningful policies.
  • Companies also need to adopt aggressive food loss and waste reduction targets.
Measure:
  • Governments need to report national food loss and waste figures and track progress over time and identify hotspots (such as key commodities and sectors) if they have not already done so.
  • Companies need to report food loss and waste publicly, and governments need to create the enabling environment for this to happen (including considering mandatory reporting of food loss and waste figures by businesses).
Act:
  • Governments and companies need to address their hotspots, as identified by measurement.
  • Both governments and companies need to turn their attention to the farm level, which remains an understudied and under-addressed area of the food loss and waste puzzle.
  • Governments and companies also need to address consumer food waste and go beyond public information campaigns to include a wide range of behaviour change solutions.
  • Financing organizations and philanthropists need to contribute to the $300 million+ in investments that are ready today to reduce food loss and waste.

Efforts must continue to build in philanthropy, supply chains and more.

Recent developments give us hope, including:
  • A number of major agriculture companies have just launched an initiative to tackle farm losses by working with thousands of smallholder farmers
  • 10 of the world’s biggest retailers came together to launch 10x20x30, a commitment to each work with 20 of their suppliers to halve food loss and waste by 2030
  • The world’s first global company has already halved food waste in its operations, proving that SDG 12.3 is achievable.
To find out more about Champions 12.3 and how your company can take action to reduce food loss and waste, visit https://champions123.org/.